Owing to the steady relative fall in the selling prices of the permanganates these are coming into more extensive use, but the consumption is still small, and they are mainly used for certain special effects, chiefly in linen or more generally flax cloth bleaching.

This view receives some support from the fact that the interaction of the H_ {2} O_ {2} with permanganates has now been established to be an oxidation of the H_ {2} of the peroxide by the permanganate oxidation, with liberation, therefore, of the O_ {2} of the peroxide as an unresolved molecule [Baeyer].

This retains its colour after washing and drying, but cannot be recommended as a pigment, being liable to suffer in contact with organic substances, which deoxidize and decolourize the manganates and permanganates.